1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tape printer which prints characters or the like on a label tape or a label tube.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A tape printer is known in which, for example, the terminal numbers of electric utility equipment are printed on a label tape. There is a case in which character strings, such as "COM1", "COM2", . . . , "COM5", "XY01", "COM6", "COM7", . . . , "COM10", "XY02", "XY03", . . . , "XY07", . . . , are printed on predetermined blocks (i.e., predetermined printing spaces) of a label tape, respectively, by the use of the tape printer.
In this case, if the letters and numbers "C", "0", "M", "X", "Y", "0", "1", . . . "10", . . . are input by key operations one by one, the key operations must be carried out many times troublesomely. As a solution to this problem, the tape printer is provided with a consecutive-number function which allows the numbers "01", "02", . . . "05", . . . to be input by operating a single key if the numbers are arranged consecutively.
However, disadvantageously, the letters "C", "0", "M", "X", and "Y" must be input one by one with respect to each block to which the letters belong even in the same character string, such as "COM" or "XY", repeatedly appears on the tape. This operation for inputting them involves a great difficulty.
Further, disadvantageously, a screen on which characters input by the key operations are displayed in confined within very narrow limits as a result of making the tape printer small-sized and light-weight, and accordingly the number of characters which the screen can display is eight or so. This makes it difficult to determine the ordinal position of a block of the tape to which a character being currently input belongs. Further, disadvantageously, much time is taken when character strings which have been input are corrected in such a way that a cursor is moved to a character string to be corrected and thereafter the character string is displayed on the screen, because a moving range within which the cursor can move at a time is only one character space.